Rate My Professor Claire Farrell

Associate Professor Claire Farrell holds the position of Associate Professor in Green Infrastructure in the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Science. She also serves as the Director of the Burnley Campus. Farrell's research centers on the application of plants in green infrastructure, including green roofs, facades, rain gardens, and woody meadows, to improve urban liveability. Her work explores how these plantings deliver benefits such as enhanced human health and well-being, increased biodiversity, stormwater mitigation, and urban cooling. By studying plant functions, traits, and tolerances, she identifies species suitable for urban conditions, promoting the development of resilient green cities. She is a member of the Green Infrastructure Research Group and contributes to the Ecophysiology and Flux research group.

Farrell leads innovative projects like the Woody Meadows initiative, which utilizes low-cost, low-maintenance plantings of diverse, drought-tolerant Australian shrubs and trees, achieving 75 per cent less maintenance. In November 2025, she released the Woody Meadow Guidelines, a comprehensive free resource offering guidance on species selection, site preparation, establishment, maintenance, and costs for public green spaces and home gardens, developed through community collaborations. In recognition of her research communication, she and Dr Rachael Bathgate won the 2024 Reel Impact Prize for their 60-second video 'Transforming Cities with Woody Meadows', securing $8,000 for a professional media project premiering in 2025. Her influential publications include 'Urban Plantings: 'Living Laboratories' for Climate Change Response' (Trends in Plant Science, 2015), 'Relationships between plant drought response, traits, and climate of origin in green roof plantings' (Ecological Applications, 2018), 'Socio-Ecological Dimensions of Spontaneous Plants on Green Roofs' (Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 2021), 'Climate of origin has no influence on drought adaptive traits and the success of green roof plantings' (Tree Physiology, 2022), and 'Using plant traits to inform species selection for naturalistic plantings' (Landscape and Urban Planning, 2025). Farrell's contributions advance practical solutions for sustainable urban greening with significant impact on city planning and environmental resilience.